Customer Reviews

Bette Davis Speaks

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

As a newspaper editor for over 30 years, I've learned how to judge a writer -- If he consistently comes up with quotes "too good to be true," they usually are.

These "interviews" sound nothing like Bette Davis as anyone who ever read the scores of bona fide interviews she gave over the years. Miss Davis was hot-tempered and sharp-tongued at times but her fans know she was really something of a prude so it seems highly questionable she would dish dirt like this. (Remember she had a feud with her last film director because the film included a dark comic joke concerning Joan Crawford which Miss Davis thought was in terrible taste. And Joan was of course no friend of Bette's!!) This frankly reads more like a drag queen's nightclub act not an interview with a star. I don't know a single movie buff who believes Mr. Hadleigh's books.

More posthumous interviews from beyond the grave, courtesy of one of Hollywood's most prolific and definitely least credible star scribblers. Funny how Boze Hadleigh (a total unknown when these sessions allegedly took place) somehow coaxed these incredibly candid (and wildly out-of-character) remarks from some of the most publicity-savvy stars in show biz.

So what do Davis and every other big name in this book have in common?THEY'RE NOT AROUND TO DEFEND THEMSELVES--AND EVERYONE KNOWS YOU CAN'T LIBEL THE DEAD. If he's really smart, Hadleigh would market a CD compilation of all his old taped interviews. But that might be problematic, eh, Boze???

She called Merle Oberon a social climber, Spencer Tracy a mean drunk and said that Fred MacMurray was "personality minus." Queen of the Silver Screen Bette Davis definitely had a way with words, and readers have an opportunity to delight in her ascerbic, no nonsense go-for-the-jugular outlook. The work is a compilation of more than a dozen interviews conducted with the author from the mid-1970s until her death in which she candidly expounds on a broad spcetrum of people and personal feelings -- many which probably displeased the person discussed. Topics range from her philosophy on acting and the public's misconceptions of Hollywood personalities to steamier topics such as casting couches, cheating spouses and rival co-stars. While the question-and-answer format used by the author helps reproduce the interview setting, the reader may find the flow a bit choppy at times. This didn't, however, depreciate the value of many of the witty and catty remarks she made to the author, with one stellar observation being made about "Dynasty" stars Joan Collins and Linda Evans: "My dear, it takes more than draping a body in something expensive to create real glamour. Hah! What's elegant about all the cleavage? My God, they might as well be at the beach. I also had very good breasts, but I was never costumed to resemble a street walker -- unless I was playing a street walker." You can almost hear the throaty laugh and smell the smoke curling from the cigarette.

This book is really worth buying and reading over and over if you are a Bette Davis fan. I have read a great deal of Bette Davis-related books over the years, and this book contain about 80% fresh materials, which is nothing short of a miracle more than 10 years after her death. The style of the book is simply the text of several extended interviews the author had with Miss Davis, as well as with others who had worked with her. The questions are interesting (as are the answers), and the style makes the information seem much more interesting and believable. A must for any fan, and, once again, I was particularly impressed with many fresh topics. Excellent!

Some resident reviewers say that this is Bose's book made up about Bette. There is enough material here that reads like the Bette we all read about, to make a good read with confidence she pitched her remarks where she wanted them to go. The only dubious report is Bose getting her in interview to almost admit to her affair with Howard Hughes whereas our Bette was quoted as saying she was "the only star in Hollywood who didn't have an affair with H.Hughes". Well, it's iffy. But who cares now? Her photos included here are lovely - it breaks your heart. Anyone who has worked in the industry knows they all dished the dirt - it was their world, present and future and they reveled in it. They were all larger than life. This book does in effect find a balance between Bette the Difficult and Bette, the professional actor born with great drive and talent who just wanted to do the best job everytime.

When I read the customer reviews of this book, I was thinking of buying it -- because it contained so much "new" material. However, I looked up the customer reviews of other books by this author, and now have serious doubts about his "journalistic" ethics. Maybe he made the whole thing up. In any case, after reading about his other books, I'm not interested in this one.

BEING VERY NEW AT AMAZON I MUST SAY THIS PURCHASE CAME EASILY WITHOUT FUSS OR TROUBLES. BEING I ORDERED THIS AND MANY OTHER BOOKS LATELY EVEN MOVIES, OUT OF THEM ALL ONLY ONE ERROR, BEING MINE.
I DO WORRY ABOUT MY CREDIT CARD NUMBER "OUT THERE" NOW AND HOPE IT WILL STAY SAFE AND PRIVATE SO TO SPEAK.
I AM SO GLAD THAT AMAZON CARES TO CARE ABOUT THE OPINIONS OF BUYERS AND I DO LIKE HOPE THEY KEEP TRACK OF OTHER BOOKS AND ALL THAT INTEREST ME BY SHOWING THEM OFF WHEN I AM ON LINE, VERY GOOD SALESMANSHIP.
SO THIS ALL IS A GOOD EXPERIENCE FOR ME WHO CAN'T FOR HEALTH REASONS GET OUT MUCH.THANK YOU.
AND MAY I MENTION SOME SALES WOULD BE NICE.
LINDA SCHIERBERG